Chapter 1
“Nothing in the Temple is given. It is earned.”
Farasee Esau Nakumba—one of the priests from the holiest temple in the empyrean—looked over the multitude of Ascendants floating before him. His expression was unimpressed. Almost bored.
“You have until dawn descends into twinight to make it inside Temple Efysis. Fail and you forfeit your Ascension.”
Slowly, I tipped my head back and looked up. Then frowned, narrowing my eyes at the sight ahead. It was absurd the distance we were expected to fly before the dawn ended. From where I was floating, I couldn’t even see the end of our destination. It went beyond the clouds.
“This is going to be a special kind of Hèls,” muttered Ellabeth from my right.
I nodded at my best friend, eyes still glued to the treacherous waterfall we were supposed to fly not up butthrough.
“We can do it. We just need to stick together.”
Ellabeth sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than me. I looked at the rushing water, already picturing how I would handle the pressure beating against my wings, asI made my way through it. The water was thick, heavy, and cutting. There was no smoothness to it. It was violent and angry.
This was going to be brutal.
I sighed, lowering my head to look back at Farasee Esau. Wiping dripping sweat from my brow, I scooted closer to Ellabeth. Enough to where our wings—all seven pairs—ended up meshing together. I used the end of one wing to fan myself. It didn’t help much. The sweltering island heat was unbearable. But hot air was starting to feel better than no air at all.
I floated above the seafloor with Ellabeth, curling my arm through hers. Sweat formed at the nape of my neck and began slipping down my spine on the inside of my flying gown. I was starting to get annoyed. I didn’t do well with the heat, and this dawn was scorching hot.
“You will begin your flight one at a time,” Farasee Esau continued. “There will be no hand holding. No assisting one another. Yes, this will be one of the most difficult tasks you will be required to perform. No, we do not care.”
The priest glared at us with eyes glowing like molten amber. His sun-kissed skin glowed beneath the sunlight under his ivory robes. Most Farasees had tassels and other ornaments hanging from their robes to show they were a Farasee, and to prove their status among the Order itself. Not this one. He seemed to care less. The hardened planes of his chiseled face was warning enough. He was not the priest to mess with.
“The journey to the temple is simple: fly through the Starfelliel waterfall, thenrun, not fly, across the Goldstone Bridge. Spread your wings, and be prepared to shed your blood. When you finish your run across the bridge you will fly to the temple gates. Make it through the gates and you’ll find a clear path to the temple. Make it into the temple and you will have successfully completed the Starfellien Ascent.”
He tilted his head, a small smile curling his lips. I shuddered at the sight.
“Then, andonlythen, will we begin to consider you as Ascendants. Once you complete your first trial in the temple, you will become Disciples.”
Angelic wings pulsed all around me. The majority of would-be Ascendants began fanning themselves. I relished in the beauty of all the different colors. Red and blue. Yellow and deep green. Every angel here was a Seraphim—the third highest rank of all twelve angelic ranks—and their feathered wings were as colorful as our vibrant island of Ouanaviel.
I looked at the waterfall thinking through my strategy. It was a lot of water to climb without opportunity to get any air. None of us were Merriens—sea bound beings who could survive underwater without needing air to breathe—we’d all been born on land. But the Farasee Order wanted us to fly through a blasted waterfall. Stars. All of it was nonsensical.
“Every generation of Disciples must go through the Starfellien Ascent,” Farasee Esau said. “I would assume your parentlings told you this, but in the case they didn’t, keep your whining to yourselves. You’re not the first to go through it, nor will you be the last. Ascend, or enlarge the Hèls.”
I looked around at my fellows who were all seeking the same thing as me. The honor of Ascending as a Disciple who could one dawn join the Farasee Order. To serve our Great Infinite in the holiest temple. To dedicate our lives to the righteous morality of the empyrean.
Selfishly, I also wanted to enter the Order so I could righteously hunt down the Fallen Prince and make him pay in blood for what he did to my Manmi. My mother would be alive this dawn if it wasn’t for him. I wouldn’t rest until I saw him broken, bleeding, and burning in the Hèls for what he’d done to her.
There was an electric charge in the air, filled with excitement and ambition. Ellabeth and I floated near the back of the gathered would-be Ascendants. The entire class who’d received acceptance scrolls looked to be around seven thousand strong.
That made me nervous. Manmi always said the temple only accepted three thousand Disciples. Which meant she’d been warning me. The competition just to getinthe temple would be fierce.
It wasn’t lost on me that the majority of the Ascendants were all males. Sporadically, spread among them I could make out the heads of those who were females. Almost all of them clung to their male counterparts who seemed to be familiar to them.
I couldn’t blame them. Manmi had warned me about that. Male hostility in the temple was a known thing. They’d been indoctrinated with the stupidity that females didn’t belong in the Farasee Order.
That never stopped us from trying to Ascend.
But I wasn’t stupid. I had to be careful.
I looked at Farasee Esau. I wonder what he thought. Did he hate us, too? Did he think our attempts were futile?
As if he could sense me, those ferocious eyes cut through the multitude of angels and looked directly at me.
